In each of the last two allocations cycles, our Federation granted $40,000 in support of Israeli grassroots shared society projects under Keren Shutafut, the Partnership Fund.
Your gift to the UJA Annual Campaign funds these efforts that support an Israeli society that is democratic, pluralistic, open, and tolerant and that provides equal opportunity for all its citizens.
The Partnership Fund recently released a report detailing the many programs they are involved with. Here is the introduction to their report, along with descriptions of just a few of the many programs they support.
Beginning in October 2023, we have all been going through difficult and sad times. Suffering from great shock, we have been unable to comprehend the sights and sounds and we are left speechless. We still have not processed the force of the events and remain in concern and great anxiety for the hostages, sadness and support for the bereaved families and the injured, and great uncertainty about the future. Alongside all this, spirit, resilience and moving actions of giving, volunteering and solidarity have been revealed in full force.
Despite the fact that the war stopped, disrupted, and changed all the activities, at least for a short time, it seems that after several long months of coping with the situation, the projects in the Partnership Fund have succeeded, with accompaniment, support, and listening, to achieve meaningful and inspirational activities.
2023 is the fourth year since the founding of the Partnership Fund, an initiative of The Rayne Trust, The Lautman Foundation, The Bloom Foundation, The Gandyr Foundation, The Nadav Foundation, The Matar Foundation, The Erdi Foundation, The NextGen Philanthropic Fund, The Chaya Charitable Trust, and Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
In this challenging year, we were pleased to see that projects at the start of their journey (grassroots projects), established over the past four years of the fund, succeeded during this difficult period in preserving the society we live in as a democratic, respectful society, a society that works to increase solidarity and connection among communities on the basis of perceiving diversity as wealth and culture as an asset, through shared values of respect and equality.
We were likewise moved to see collaborations and connections of projects that succeeded in creating joint activities and programs for unique ways of coping and for expanding their influence on the field of shared society.
Especially at the end of the fourth year of activities, we are proud to present dozens of the Partnership Fund’s selected projects, which have brought the need for trust and repair between the different groups in Israel to center stage, with determination, responsibility and great caring, despite the many challenges.
Climate of Unity: Creating a network of diverse communities that create a shared culture around a vision of sustainability. After the war, we succeeded in organizing events for the sale of agricultural produce from the Envelope area in which thousands of people participated including people who were evacuated from the south and the north.
Youth Leading Change in the Nahal: Training a regional environmental youth leadership team, through familiarization with the different cultures living as neighbors and with an emphasis on sustainability of the Nahal Tavor area.
High Schools for Leadership and Law Program: During the war, we succeeded in leading meaningful dialogue among hundreds of Jewish and Arab high school students about issues of identity and belonging. The meetings were meaningful and most of the dialogue groups did not want to take breaks and preferred to take advantage of the time to deepen the discussion and familiarization.
Establishing a Multicultural Growing School in the Western Galilee: Creating shared living based on equality, respect, acceptance and mutual responsibility of Jews and Arabs in the Western Galilee region and beyond, through activity in the field of education, sport and leisure. The mobilization of preschool parents and many partners to continue our work despite the war. With joint efforts, we succeeded in building a safe room for the bilingual preschool, and thus to adapt the preschool for the security situation in our region.
Al Hamakam Hazeh: Al Hamakam Hazeh is an annual program whose goal is ongoing, regular poetry meetings between Arab and Jewish poets, using practices of translation as a tool for deep bilingual dialogue and broader familiarization between the two languages. We succeeded in opening a second cohort of the program, a diverse group of nine participants who took part in the ongoing, intensive project of joint translation and writing. There were two fascinating meetings with literature authors who work in two languages, and we produced a book that anthologized the joint writing throughout the project.
The issue of shared living is one of the most complex issues and therefore in order to succeed in understanding, “cracking” and advancing this complex field, broad-based partnership is necessary, one that works for mutual inspiration on comprehensive social activities.
We thank the many projects operating in the field that have made it possible for us to create a space and a community for them in which people know how to work together to strengthen complex processes, connection and collaboration into a network of shared society organizations. The continued activities of these organizations are of the utmost necessity at this time, for they directly contribute to the solution of the social problems that characterize Israeli society in the current period.
For a summary of the Partnership Fund Projects, click here.